Sunday, 22 July 2012

China leads the world in green technology. Unfortunately, it also leads the world in total CO2 output. Australia is not on the chart above right.... if it were, it would be at the top, with about 18.5 tonnes/capita.
PDF of Tom Holland's article: "World Leader in green tech, world beater in greenhouse gas"

Saturday, 21 July 2012

Bachmann strikes out: leads with her chin and blunts anti Muslim Brotherhood efforts (well, how's that for a bunch of mixed metaphors....).
Michele Bachmann (R-Min) did harm to the efforts to highlight and counter pressure for Sharia law in the US.
The other day she questioned the patriotism of Huma Abedin, the long-time aide to Hilary Clinton with accusations that tie her to a conspiracy of the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate the US government.
I take no view on the patriotism of Ms Abedin and am quite willing to stipulate that she has, as John McCain says, "substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully."
The bigger problem, apart from Ms Abedi's wounded feelings, is that Bachmann allows a free punch to the counter-counter Jihad movement. And they wasted no time. Free hit!
Here's the New York Times in an editorial headed "McCarthyism Redux". Nothing as sure to shut up the opposition as the slur of "McCarthyism". Well, unless it's "racism" or "Islamophobia". The leader finishes up with a condemnation of "Know Nothingism"; apt, many would say, as it was a Protestant, xenophobic movement of the 19th century, afraid of the hordes of Catholics swamping the US and not sharing its values. Change "Catholic" to "Muslim", and bingo: Know Nothings redux.
The NYT was not alone. In a top-Google outcome of "Michelle Bachmann Muslim Brotherhood" is a link to this. The author Matt Coker makes a number of statements that are wrong -- know nothing, if you will -- but which will resonate because of Bachmann's stupidity in taking aim at Ms Abedin:
For example:
"... the letter reportedly claims...." about a 1991 letter retrieved by the FBI in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial. There is no doubt the letter exists, and what it "claims" is not "reportedly" claimed, it is in fact in the Brotherhood letter and it's this:"... eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers...." [ref]
And, Coker quoting a guy he doesn't much like: "He [Ibrahim El Houdaiby] claimed the document was a forgery and insisted that the Muslim Brotherhood had no presence in the U.S. -- both lies".
Well they are both lies. The Muslim Brotherhood does have a presence in the US and the letter of 1991 is not a forgery: no Muslim Brotherhood representative has denied its veracity.
And:
"While wondering how Muzammil Siddiqi could have acted on a
request he did not receive--as well as how many evangelical Christian leaders
and gay-conversion advocates like Bachmann's husband would sign a pledge that
American Christian apostates should not be harmed by Christians--it occurs that
at least Fouse is an equal-opportunity critic."
The request in question was for Siddiqi to sign a pledge that American Muslim apostates should not be harmed. Perhaps Siddiqi did not receive the letter of request. But even if he didn't, shouldn't he have made his position clear in any case (if indeed it was that Muslim apostates should not be harmed), rather than quibble that he didn't receive the letter? Unless, of course he knew -- as surely he must -- that the Islamic legal requirement for apostates is death. [Ref]
After all Siddiqi is Chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America. The Fiqh Council is one of the signatories attesting to the authority of the "Umdat Al-Salik", the Classic Manual of Islamic Jurisprudence, which sets out the basis of Sharia Law. And here's what Sharia says about apostasy, as authorised by the Fiqh council, of which Siddiqi is Chairman. (In short: death by stoning).
More: does Coker seriously believe that even an evangelical Christian, as Bachmann is, would call for harm for Christian apostates? I know of no fundamentalist Christian who has made such a call.
As for Siddiqi, who Coker lauds as someone "honored last year because he truly deserves it": note this: that Siddiqi has called for Sharia law in the US (through "patience, wisdom and hard work") and that "homosexuality is a disease". Some role model to be honored!
It's a pity Bachmann chose to take aim at Huma Abadin.
It's allowed a free kick from those real Know Nothings, or See Nothings, who want to wish away the increasing role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the US, and give honors to Siddiqi-style homophobic promoters of Sharia law and killing of apostates.

Friday, 20 July 2012

Letter to the Beebs:In his interview with BBC WorldService, Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post said the Muslim Brotherhood was now "very different" from the past and was now just a political organisation (and by implication: secular).

He has argued for barring women and non-Muslims from Egypt’s presidency on the basis of Islamic law, or Shariah. He has called for a council of Muslim scholars to advise Parliament. He has a track record of inflammatory statements about Israel, including repeatedly calling its citizens “killers and vampires.”

...

“This is the old ‘Islam is the solution’ platform,” he said, recalling the group’s traditional slogan in his first television interview as a candidate. “It has been developed and crystallized so that God could bless society with it.” At his first rally, he led supporters in a chant: “The Koran is our constitution, and Shariah is our guide!”

Monday, 16 July 2012

“We watched in horror this week at the execution
of an Afghan woman who was shot nine times while a crowd of roaring men who
call themselves Muslim cheered and screamed…

“Though we have said it
over and over again, let us reiterate once more: The actions of these men were
in absolute and supreme violation of God’s laws, and Islam does not condone
unmitigated violence of any kind. Period.”

Imam
Feisal Rauf is one of the world’s favourite “moderate Muslims”. [eg].

Yet:

He is wrong about “the actions of these men” being
in “violation” of God’s laws. Here’s
what Sharia says about adultery.
The penalty is stoning, so one could argue that these men showed mercy
by shooting her. Not “cruel and
unusual punishment” for these fellas.
Is Rauf a Fool or a Knave when he says what he says? I go for the latter, the “Knave”, that
is one that knows but dissembles, known in Islam as Taqiyya. Lying or being duplicitous for the faith.

“An essential element of this interweaving of cultures, he
says, will have to be the incorporation of Sharia law into the legal systems of
Europe and the US. In this, he is in agreement with the Archbishop of
Canterbury who said that the adoption of some aspects of Sharia law ‘seems to
be unavoidable’.”

He
knows that the west is leery of the Sharia penal code so he goes on:

“…’the only truly clashing area is the penal code, and no
Muslim has the intention of introducing that to America. The penal code is the
area that people in the Western world are worried about – but these are things
that aren’t even observed today in most of the Muslim world. Apart from the
Taliban and a few places like that, where
do you see this happening?’”.

But:

“Where
do we see this happening”? Well,
for a start: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia. And in Egypt and Jordan it’s
forthcoming.(*)

And why
would Muslims, once Sharia has been “incorporated” into western legal systems,
stop from requiring that it should be applied in toto including its penal codes? After all, it’s
the “perfect” law from the “perfect” religion. [morehere].

And:
what other religion expects and demands that its religious law be “incorporated”
into western law? Answer: none.

(*) Pew
research: “The
study also showed that Muslims in and around the Middle East believe that
Islam has a major role to play in politics and government. Majorities in
Pakistan, Jordan and Egypt believe that laws should strictly follow the Quran.”

Saturday, 14 July 2012

My letter to South China Morning Post was featured today with the photo above (pay-wall). Have had a number of emails in support. Hope in time the idiocy of the "WOD" will become more an more apparent.

Another example of the idiocy is Afghanistan. It produces the most and best of the world's opium. Local farmers rely on it; no other crop -- not almonds, not raisins, not chickpeas -- provides the income of poppies. They supply 90% of the world's heroin.

At the same time Africa is severely short of analgesics like morphine.

For the price of about two weeks' cost of the US troops in Afghanistan, the whole of the Afghan poppy crop could be bought, converted into legal morphine (in factories within Afghanistan, providing further employment) and shipped to Africa -- say, by the World Health Organisation -- for free use by poor patients.

Thus it would be two birds with the one stone: (1) legitimise the crop in Afghanistan and remove the criminal element (Taliban gang-controlled) and (2) provide pain relief in Africa.

This would not be easy to be sure. The gangs controlling the poppy to opium to heroin trade ex Afghanistan are hardly likely to go without a fight.

But how much better than the current futile effort to eradicate it: creating enemies from the farmers and making illicit profits for the Taliban; while African poor stay in pain.

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

"Has the sun finally set for Egypt's Great Pyramids" asks Raymond Ibrahim

Yikes! [See also "Egyptian Islamist out to prove 'there is no fun in Islam'"]
From the always reliable Raymond Ibrahim:According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those "symbols of paganism," which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not."This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt circa 641. Under al-As and subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity. While most Western academics argue otherwise, according to early Muslim writers, the great Library of Alexandria itself—deemed a repository of pagan knowledge contradicting the Koran—was destroyed under bin al-As's reign and in compliance with Caliph Omar's command.Read on.This would be in keeping with Sharia law: that anything pre-Islamic is the period of ignorance (Jahilyyah). And anything deemed "pagan" is particularly deplored. Thus the destruction of the Bamyian Buddhas and recently the destruction of tombs in Mali. All in keeping with the tenets of Sharia law....

Saturday, 7 July 2012

Yet another photo opportunity: Customs officers in front of a “huge haul of cocaine”. Yet another boast that the seizures reflect "determination and confidence to fight against trafficking of illegal drugs”. (“Customs seizes record HK$760 million cocaine haul”, July 7).

Yet another bit of nonsense.

A recent New York Times article notes that the price of cocaine today is 74% cheaper than it was 30 years ago. This number proves “that the struggle on which they have spent billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of lives over the last four decades has failed.”

Studies by Harvard University show that legalizing all illicit drugs would produce net benefits to the United States of $65 billion a year by reduced spending on enforcement and less crime and corruption.

Even if we can’t accept legalisation, there are other options. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, with its former presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Poland, has called on national governments to “depenalise” drug possession and sales.

LEAP, an international organisation of criminal justice professionals who have personally seen the wasteful futility and the harms of current drug policies, calls for repeal of probation and replacement with a tight system of legalized regulation (like alcohol).

We should have the guts to consider these other options – legalisation or “depenalisation” -- rather than exulting in yet another pointless drug haul. A haul that does nothing to stem the flow and price of illicit drugs.

Blaming the poor Swedes for the problems of Islamic supremacism and crime in Multicultural Malmö.

According to the BBC World Service Radio (today, here in Hong Kong) and its interviewees, native Swedes are being simply horrid to its Muslim population. If only they would leave them alone, let them get on with their drug dealing and jew-baiting, things would be fine...

One of the guests, a convert to
Islam, complained about “far right Islamophobia", saying “today it’s criticism
of Muslims; tomorrow it may be the Jews”. Cunning. But it doesn’t wash.
Christopher Hitchens skewered this false equivalence, here.
Talking of the 2010 so-called “Ground Zero Mosque controversy”, he noted:

Reactions
from even "moderate" Muslims to criticism are not uniformly
reassuring. "Some of what people are saying in this mosque controversy is
very similar to what German media was saying about Jews in the 1920s and
1930s," Imam Abdullah Antepli, Muslim chaplain at Duke University, told the New
York Times. Yes, we all recall the Jewish suicide bombers of that period, as we
recall the Jewish yells for holy war, the Jewish demands for the veiling of
women and the stoning of homosexuals, and the Jewish burning of newspapers that
published cartoons they did not like. What is needed from the supporters of
this very confident faith is more self-criticism and less self-pity and self-righteousness.
[Source]

The BBC line is that the problems in Malmö
are all the fault of the Swedes: they discriminate against Muslims which keeps
them in poverty and leads to the high crime rates amongst that community.

Nothing is said about the
responsibility the Muslim community may have to help itself. To stress education, taking on Swedish
mores, adapting to the community. Yet:

Then (2007) Swedish Integration Minister Nyamko Sabuni
[now Minister for Gender Equality]—a Muslim who came to Sweden when she was 12
and the first African to become a member of government in the country—insists
that the only way for immigrants to integrate into society is to learn the
language and get a job.“It
is crucial that immigrants get in contact with the labour market as soon as
possible after receiving their residence permit. This has to be combined with
language courses,” she
told AFP.

Why don't the BBC or its
interviewees discuss that?

As for “hate crimes” the official Swedish police figures
belie the BBC line. It’s not
Muslims but Jews that are the main target of “hate crimes”, by a factor of 70 times:

But
Jews are feeling the heat disproportionately. Malmö police say that of 115 hate
crimes reported in 2009, 52 were anti-Semitic. Becirov estimated there are
about 60,000 Muslims in Malmö, while the number of Jews is about 700 and
shrinking - it was twice as big two decades ago, according to Fredrik
Sieradzki, a spokesman for the Jewish community.

In sum:

Jews: 7% of their 700 population in Malmö experienced “hate crimes”.

Muslims: 0.1% of their 60,000 population in
Malmö experienced “hate crimes” And that’s assuming that all the non anti-Semitic hate crimes were against Muslims.

In other words, Jews in Malmö experienced
“hate crimes” at a rate 70 times greater than did Muslims.

These hate crimes in Sweden are mirrored in
the US, where we are led to believe that the Muslim population there is subject
to regular “Islamophobia”. Yet, according
to the FBI:

64% of hate crimes are Anti-Jewish

13% are Anti-Islam

Nicholai Sennels is a Danish psychologist
who has treated many Muslim and non-Muslim young criminals in Copenhagen. His observations for Denmark would
likely be similar to its neighbour Sweden. He talks of deep-seated and virtually intractable
differences in cultural outlook between his Muslim and non-Muslim patients. It makes uncomfortable reading, but
worth careful study, here.

Letter
to BBC WorldService (worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk):

In your coverage of increasing tensions in Malmö,
Sweden, your reporter (Joanne (?) Fidgin, (sp?)) and her interviewees placed all the blame on so-called
“far right” parties and Swedish racism or “Islamophobia”.

But consider:

“Hate Crimes” in Malmö are overwhelmingly
against Jews: at a rate 70 times that against Muslims. [ref]

‘’…insists that the only way for
immigrants to integrate into society is to learn the language and get a job.‘It is crucial that immigrants get
in contact with the labour market as soon as possible after receiving their
residence permit. This has to be combined with language courses,’ she told AFP.”

Why no mention of this view of a Swedish Muslim Minister? Why should the Swedes not expect the Muslim community to help itself, to “integrate into society”, to “learn
the language”, as have all other previous immigrant groups? Practicality aside, it's just polite to do so!

Related: Your BBC Video “The Other comes
across rather as an apologia for Muslim crime in Sweden -- “leave us alone” says the drug dealer…. It shows whole
areas of Malmö are Muslim where only Arabic is spoken. How can this be the way to get ahead in
Sweden? How can this be a good way for society to develop?

This is not a rant against
immigration in general. Waves of
previous immigrants have managed to get ahead in their host societies, in the UK as in my own Australia. The problem with Islamic immigration in
many countries is that later generations are not becoming more integrated into
the societies their parents chose to come to, but less, not just in Sweden, but also, as Christopher Caldwell has shown, in Germany and France as well.

I watched a reality Cable program a while back on the American prison system, "Lockup", I think it was called. This episode was about an ultra-high security prison in Texas, a "Supermax" (truly horrid places).
The Warden at this prison had decided to ban the use of tobacco. Result? Not the disappearance of tobacco, as you might expect in a place which controls its inmates so strictly and intrusively. The result was instead that the price of tobacco went up to around $US 100 per ounce.
Now, given that the prison has a controlled population, where warders conduct regular, random and thorough searches of prisoners' cells, where visitors are strictly controlled and vetted before entering, given all this, tobacco still finds its way inside and all that happened was that price went up to match demand.
Given this, how can a government hope -- ever -- to eradicate drug use amongst its immeasurably larger and freer population?
Of course, the answer is that it can't. The "War on Drugs" begun by Nixon in the seventies is doomed to failure.
That's why I like what the folks at LEAP do. They have experience in the "war" and their voices should be heard.
In this article in today's New York Times -- "Numbers Tell of Failure in Drug War" -- Eduardo Porter makes a great case for the legalisation -- or at least to "depenalise" -- drugs. The benefits would be enormous, for health, welfare and the economy.
Snip:

"... many critics of the current policy believe the solution is to legalize — to bring illegal drugs out of the shadows where they are controlled by criminal gangs, into the light of the legal market where they can be regulated and taxed by the government.

"Jeffrey Miron, an economist at Harvard who studies drug policy closely, has suggested that legalizing all illicit drugs would produce net benefits to the United States of some $65 billion a year, mostly by cutting public spending on enforcement as well as through reduced crime and corruption....

"There are other options. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, whose membership includes former presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Poland, has called on national governments to “depenalize” if not necessarily legalize drug possession and sales."

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

China's been rightly slammed over the years for its devastation of the environment. But public awareness has been growing for years now, and the article below the fold, from today's South China Morning Post, highlights this.
Related: China "Official banquets may ban shark fin" (subscription wall). On this issue Hong Kong has been at the forefront: both as consumer and as the protester against the dreadful practice of cutting off sharks' fins and letting them sink to their deaths.

Hmmmm... not sure about this. Still, it's not me saying it but The Economist Intelligence Unit. The methodology seems a bit dodgy. Then again, a key para in it is true:"Hong Kong is a very compact city that has managed to maintain its natural heritage, create a dense network of green spaces and enjoy extensive links to the rest of the world. ...."
Article from today's South China Morning Post, below the fold:

South China Morning Post, our local Hong Kong "paper of record", published my letter today. Together with another taking the other side of the argument (should the Queen apologise for past "imperial crimes and exploitation"). Deletions from original noted in italics:
[Earlier letters here]Contrast with mainland is stark

Hong Kong is indeed in a good position since the handover, though "better" is arguable.

The reason for that good position is the system that was handed over peacefully in July 1997 - the rule of law; freedom of speech and assembly; a competent and uncorrupt government. All these are in stark contrast with the mainland.

I studied Chinese and worked in China in the early 1970s and have personal experience of the stark differences between the mainland and Hong Kong. [Mind you, I still had a fun and unforgettable time!]

Many of these still exist, corruption and abuse of power the chief among them.

Ms Sze says Hong Kong people "keep annual vigil for June 4". Yes indeed, but try doing that in Beijing, Ms Sze, and see how long it is before you're tossed in jail by "China's able government".

The history of British imperialism is not blemish free, a fact fully recognised by the British themselves, who carry out constant self-criticism of their imperial past. But it is nonsense to note only the "atrocities" of "imperial exploitation", without also noting that, in the case of Hong Kong, our good position is based on principles of government and civil society instituted by Britain.

Queen Elizabeth has nothing to apologise for, Ms Sze. Why not concentrate your energies on getting the “able” Chinese government to apologise for June 4?(disclosure: I am not British but Australian — another horrid ex colony! - who now considers Hong Kong home).

Yours, etc,

Peter F

The other letter:

Imperial past had many dark periods

I refer to Ray Peacock's letter ("Many died to defend free speech", June 29).While I salute the bravery of those who "fought and died" in Hong Kong, Britain was attempting to defend its colonial interests.

Mr Peacock seems to miss the point of Cynthia Sze's letter in which she discussed the irrelevance of Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong 15 years after the handover and the need for an apology for imperial crimes ("Dark history of imperial exploitation", June 25).

There are many dark periods in British imperial history; opium distribution in China, Irish famine and the Bengal famine, to name a few.

Mr Peacock would do well to research these topics to allow a greater understanding of the basis for opinions against imperialism, past or present.

Phillip J. Walker, Wan Chai

****************

Cynthia Sze again, 9th July:

British soldiers died for empire

Referring to my letter ("Dark history of imperial exploitation", June 25), Ray Peacock ("Many died to defend free speech", June 29) groundlessly accused me of despising China's war allies, and speciously labelled my objective argument as ventilation of "bile and venom".

His hyperbolised fable of Britain's role in the second world war is outmoded. British soldiers died defending imperial interests and not freedoms for the colonies.

At the outbreak of the war, Britain's military enterprise in Asia collapsed. Britain itself was at the mercy of Luftwaffe air raids. Mr Peacock would have to learn to operate in Japanese or German if there weren't Chinese, Russian and American efforts in the war.

He also misconceived colonial education as a prerequisite for English articulation and free speech. From Lin Yutang to Ha Jin, many generations of Chinese literati without a colonial education have written freely in English.

Like them, nowadays a growing number of mainland Chinese think more freely and master English more effectively than Hong Kong people, without the latter's baggage of a colonial education.

People are understandably upset by the attacks on ancient shrines in Timbuktu, by an Islamist outfit called Ansar Dine ("defenders of the faith"). The UN Secretary General has said they are "without justification" and the International Criminal Court threatens to charge them with crimes against humanity. Others say the attacks are non-Islamic.
They're all wrong.
Ansar Dine are simply acting on the Sharia.
I consulted my trusty "Umdat al-Salik", the Classic Manual of Islamic Jurisprudence, authorised by Islam's most ancient Sharia authority, al-Azhar University in Cairo.
At g5.7, the Umdat says:

"One should raise the grave's surface to 1 span (about 23cm)..."

Now this is interesting, as I'd only just heard on BBC TV that the Ansar Dine were saying that they had to reduce the size of the shrines to 20 cm, as that was what was authorised in Sharia law.
They're spot on (give or take 3cm, or about an inch...). They know their sharia. Their critics don't.
[The reason for the stipulation, by the way, is that there should be no shrines that may "confuse" Muslims and divert them from their veneration of their Prophet Muhammad]
So those like Ban Ki-Moon and others scandalized by the actions of Ansar Dine should stop huffing and puffing that these reprehensible attacks are some-how non-Islamic. They should face the fact -- and say -- that they are clearly part of Sharia.
In other words: they should direct their criticisms at Sharia.
Or is that too buttock-clenchingly uncomfortable for them? Too much of a danger to their life and well being?LATER: interesting article in New York Times, 9 July: "Mali Tomb Raiders".

"...it is the duty of those who have accepted Islam to strive unceasingly to convert or subjugate those who have not. This obligation is without limit of time or space. It must continue until the whole world has either accepted the Islamic faith or submitted to the power of the Islamic state."

-- Bernard Lewis, renowned historian of Islam and the Middle East, in The Political Language of Islam, p72-3.

In other words:

"Islam is unique among religions of the world in having a developed doctrine, theology and legal system that mandates warfare against unbelievers."